I. Love. Photography.
I consider myself an amateur photographer.
I have two good friends that are photographers- and awesome at it! My IRL (in real life) friend Melissa and my online Mommy friend Kim. (If you live in Tampa Bay, FL or Memphis, TN and need a photographer one of these women is your girl!)
Sorry, I have to give my girls a plug in.
Anyway, my loving, awesome, encouraging, caring husband knew that I was considering starting (very slowly) a photography business. Nothing big, in-home at first. Point being, he went ALL OUT. Hear me again- all out. And bought me this disturbingly expensive and absolutely amazing dream camera.
In my opinion, this is a beginning photographer’s dream. And it takes beauuuuuuutiful pictures (that’s right, beautiful, with 7 u’s).
Right out of the box, I saw Error 01 telling me that there is a communication problem between the camera and the lens. RIGHT OUT OF THE BOX!!! (Apparently I’m not the only person this has happened to, see here). So I remove the lens and replace it and it begins to work again just fine.
But as someone who thoroughly enjoys photography, having an error message which deters you from taking pictures is annoying because you can miss “the shot.” That awesome shot that you only have a few seconds to take… like when we took our daughter to the beach a few weeks ago. I missed many-a awesome shots. Like baby girl holding her Daddy’s hand as they walked down to the water- AWESOME SHOT… but oh no, Error 01.
I called Canon “customer support” and was told to “clean my lens contacts with an eraser.”
That’s it. No other help offered. She sounded like I was bothering her. Aaand ya.
Almost $1,000 on a camera for that. So, it was an awesome gesture by my amazing husband, but after a long discussion I decided that we should return the camera. Since Canon doesn’t give a shit, why should I. My Kodak from 2006 has a few issues after extensive wear, tear and use, but it’s still kickin’.
The problem today is that everything is about money. What the hell happened to customer service? I love that after spending an absurd amount of money on a product Canon could give a shit about their customers. And also, in this Yahoo! question from one year ago, one woman said “it happens often.” Should a fuckin camera that costs an arm & a leg be giving Error messages on a regular basis?
I am disappointed in Canon’s customer service for not giving a crap and just wanted to put that out there.
This rant is over. Carry on.
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I’ve heard a lot of great things about Nikon… maybe try them?
Wow. So sorry to hear about your bad experience with Canon. I’m a pro shooter and I’ve used Canon for 10+ years. I know it seems like a lot of money for a camera, but if you are starting a biz you should know that a good prosumer camera can cost about $1500-$2500 and the lenses, well, lets not even discuss how expensive those little suckers are. Everytime I have to buy a new piece of equipment I shudder.
Dont’ let one employee ruin your opinion of a great company. I’ve had that Error msg before and its annoying for sure, but when I called I spoke with someone who enjoyed their job—makes all the difference.
Keep on shooting. Wishing you the best in your business venture.
My rebel xs is a lesser expensive model but never had an issue with it ever. Maybe go with a less expensive camera and get an extra lens! Either that or go with a nikon.
I feel your pain. I had decided to replace my little point-n-shoot that I carry everywhere (got the big guns too, but they don’t travel well in a purse!). The little one I’d used for years was an Olympus so, since it had been so good, I bought another Olympus. Kept trying to write off the problems as me adjusting to a new camera but ultimately decided it SUCKED. If I used the flash in photos the batteries went dead after about 5 or 6 flashes. Not cool. Also had a lot of issues with the quality of the photos, grainy, lack of focus, etc. So I mailed it back to Olympus and told them I didn’t want a replacement, credit or repair…all I wanted was my $$ back. Bastards returned the camera to me, saying their service department check it and there wasn’t anything wrong with it! Grrrrr. So, sorry to say, it’s not just Canon that has sucky customer service.
I’m going with Fuji next time…I had several in the past and sold them to friends when I outgrew them. Two of them had performance issues and were sent back to Fuji who repaired them (we’re talking cameras that are 6 or 7 years old!) and shipped them back. FOR FREE!